In the title match-up, I picked Phyre Quickly Burns as the 2007 NOTY champion over Intelligent Infinite Botts. As I said to the NOTY organizer to explain my pick: "Phyre Quickly Burns isn't a name. It's a narrative."

Michael Phelps: World's Greatest Athlete? Sets a new world record in the 200-meter freestyle. Not sure how many of you appreciate what that means. I think it's not hyperbole to say it would be like an NBA player scoring 101.

NFL Trade: Lance Briggs to the Redskins? Don't they already have two other expensive linebackers? What a classic Redskins move.

NFL Rules: Why would the Cardinals and Bengals reject the idea of making instant replay permanent? They were the only NFL teams to do it.

Meanwhile, I'm no Luddite, but defensive players having radios in their helmets defeats the entire purpose of home-field advantage. I'm glad the owners rejected that proposal.

Women's NCAA Tournament: Traditional powers UNC and Tennessee join Rutgers and LSU in the Final Four. Should be pretty intriguing.

NIT: I don't care what the name of the tournament is – a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to win a win-or-go-home semifinal is exciting. Congrats to West Virginia, which topped MississippiState and advanced to the NIT final against Clemson, which held on against Air Force. They'll play for the coveted title of "Team 66." (Which isn't fair or accurate, but nonetheless, where we are.)

NBA: I'd like to know if Grizzlies fans are happy their woeful team beat the Lakers – or pissed because, at this point, every win takes them further from Oden or Durant at the top of the draft lottery.

Pop Culture: LeBron to host the ESPYs. I appreciate his star appeal, and his acting in his LeBron TV commercials was exceptional. I hope he gets into the host role and doesn't try to play it too cool, leaving the fun to his sidekick, the ubiquitous Jimmy Kimmel.

Media: I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I even WANT Joe Theismann to call college football games. From quotes, his heart doesn't seem into it, and don't you want a CFB analyst who loves CFB?

MLB: Mark Prior, minor-leaguer? That's looking more likely since Lou Piniella picked Wade Miller to be the Cubs' 5th starter. Go back a half-decade and try to wrap your mind around THAT.

Nats Watch: When I wrote my Nats Deadspin preview, Vegas had them at 300-to-1 shots to win the World Series, longest in baseball this season. But, per Boswell's WashPost column today, their over under is 68 wins – not the 40-something that some (me) were suggesting. It's a great time to hop on the bandwagon!

In the biggest league M&A since the NBA/ABA, the UFC will buy Pride Fighting Championships, creating a mega-MMA entity. What happens when MMA slots itself just under NFL, college football and baseball (in that order) as an increasingly rare "national sport?"

Why did the Bengals vote against instant replay? They don't want anything on camera that may be a parole violation. Chris Henry gets arrested again! I don't care if it's traffic related or license related, or whatever, but don't you learn at some point? ESPECIALLY since Pac Man will be meeting with the commish this week to talk about his issues.

Dan, I know it's probably too late to review your Name of the Year picks, but I noticed no one had Mario Hilario. As a Rhode Islander, I know who he is. He is a television reporter on one of the local channels (can't remember which, don't want to look it up). But, I realize this probably doesn't come into play for the brackets, but Mario Hilario is gay and supposedly dating/living with the Providence Mayor (also openly gay). That's gotta count for something in this crazy mixed up world. Right?

It's amazing how incompetent the Redskins front office is! They're going to put big bucks into yet another linebacker when their most pressing needs are at d-line, secondary and tight end? On top of that, they're trading down in the first round without getting anything in the way of replacing the second-, third- and fourth-round picks they DON'T have because of earlier boneheaded trades. Do these guys understand how the NFL works? If the trade happens, I'm giving up my season tickets!

Dan, I gotta complement you on recognizing Phelps' accomplishments. The guy is rolling right now. He took down the record in the 200 that was help by Ian Thorpe. Many thought that record would stand for a long time and he went out adn laid the hammer down. Today he lowered his own record in the 200 Butterfly by over a second and a half. The guy is a freak and should be considered one of the world's best athletes. Consider also that he is 21 and most male swimmers peak in their mid-20s. He dominated in Athens, will dominate Beijing, and could dominate in London.

Was the Phelps mention a slight at Federer? Obviously the 2nd straight loss to Canas appears to knock some level off the aura of invincibility.

Still, it shows that tiebreakers suck. Play it out! I happen to like Davis Cup-like scores of 14-12 in the 5th set.

The Bengals vote against everything. When I heard there were 2 against, I just assumed the other team was Buffalo.

Go Grizzlies, keep on winning! I'm sure Jerry West served some extra ice cream in the locker room for that win.

And WHEN is Madison Square Garden going to lay down a college-only floor without the NBA 3-point line on it? Shouldn't the world's most self-absorbed arena be able to have separate courts for pro and college games?

- I'm confused how radios in the defenses helmet takes away homefield advantage? When the home town is on defense it gets loud and the opposing offense already has radios. If anything this kills home field advantage, right? The away O can hear and the home D can't. When the away team is on defense, the home team is on offense and you don't cheer pre-snap while your team is on offense. So what does giving the defense radios have to do with home field advantage? Just another case of the rules favoring the offense.

- I don't want see or hear Theismann on TV at all. He is awful. I'm disappointed to hear that he will now be ruining ESPN's college games.

- So, when do we find out what Michael Phelps is doping with? Seriously, as I read the first comments of the day that basically insinuated how super human this guy is (breaking records that were supposed to stand for a long time, breaking his own records by substantial amounts) that was the first thing I thought of. Just seems to make sense to me that swimming is another doping friendly sport (Hello, East Germans). Hope he doesn't celebrate too much and get himself another DUI.

More importantly i think the problem with thiesman is not one of enthusiasm but one of do i enjoy hiis voice during a game. meaning would i be happier wtching if just he was muted. Since the answer is yes then he should not be annoucning in my opinion. PS for anyone here who is on a bracket site. or mainly for awful announcing you should do a bracket of best and worst announcers and see who wins. you could make them 32 because i think even that many good announcers would be hard to find.

to second Dave-If anything this would increase homefield advantage because the main time for the home crowd to get loud is presnap when the away team is on offense. All this would do is level the playing field a bit between the offense and defense. My guess is they didn't pass it because offense sells tickets.

If someone will buy me Nats' season tickets then they will win all of their homegames. I have been to ten games since they moved to DC and they have NEVER lost when I go. Any takers? That would guarentee at least a .500 season.

One of the things with giving a defensive player the radio helmet is that with so much defensive substitution, it's not like there's a guy who's necessarily out there every play anyways. What do you do then, switch helmets?

(Hey, how hard would it be to set up a mini radio on that frequency to the QB, and then a mini transmitter to the defensive coaches upon hearing the play?)

Brian, most of the time, the defensive captain never comes off the field. That's usually the middle linebacker. I can't remember the last time I saw a middle linebacker on the sidelines for anything other than injury. Personally, I think they should have the radio. I disagree with Dan. It doesn't take away the homefield advantage. Defense relies on sign language right now so there's no affect.

As for Prior in the minors, that's fine with me, a Cubs fan. He can go down there, get his work in, get back to form, and when Piniella gets sick of Jason Marquis' suckiness, Prior will be able to come in and take over. Prior will get back to form. It'll take him a while. Remember he's barely pitched in the last 3 years? Let's see you guys stop something for 3 years and then pick it up like you never left.

One good thing about Theismann doing CFB is that the players aren't around as long. Now he'll have to rotate through his cliches much more quickly. He could say "Brett Favre is gunslinger who has fun and looks like a kid out there" for fifteen years. But he will only be able to say things like "Brady Quinn can make all the throws and is cool and confident running a pro style offense" for four years at the most.

Sure, it'll probably still be all platitudes and repeating what coaches told him at dinner, but at least we'll get to see his whole range of meaningless talk instead of the tiny sliver we're getting now.

Brian in Oxford said... And WHEN is Madison Square Garden going to lay down a college-only floor without the NBA 3-point line on it? Shouldn't the world's most self-absorbed arena be able to have separate courts for pro and college games?

From what I can tell, every court that has a professional team on it has both lines out there.

NFL announced compensatory picks. Can someone please explain to me the formula they used to determine the Pats suffered such a net loss in free agency they were graced with 4 extra picks? Last time I checked, they had a hell of a free agency haul.

And the reasoning I heard for no radios for the defense was that with all the substitutions defenses commonly use, its too likely that multiple people with radios would end up on the field.

There are plenty of arenas that bring in separate floors. For instance, when they hold the final four, it's got a specially painted logo just for that. Or they will bring in a floor from a college arena specifically into a dome.

My point is that MSG claims to be all-that...like it's so great to be playing the Garden. I think having the college kids playing on the Knicks' floor makes it look like they're second-rate.

And, if you watch Knicks' games, the college line isn't there on the court. So they have no problem removing the college line. I don't see why they just don't have 2 floors with the separate markings.

Mike said... NFL announced compensatory picks. Can someone please explain to me the formula they used to determine the Pats suffered such a net loss in free agency they were graced with 4 extra picks? Last time I checked, they had a hell of a free agency haul.

Those picks are a reflection of last year's free agent losses (Andruzzi, Vinatieri, Givents, etc.).

And as for the radio in the helmets, I don't understand how it kills homefield advantage at ALL. The crowd gets behind the defense at home, and quiets down for the offense. Now, there may be better reasons for no radios for defensive players, but that rationale about homefield makes little to no sense to me.

Mike said... NFL announced compensatory picks. Can someone please explain to me the formula they used to determine the Pats suffered such a net loss in free agency they were graced with 4 extra picks? Last time I checked, they had a hell of a free agency haul.

I just think it looks bad to watch a college game and see the pro line out there. MSG's got tons of moolah, so they ought to be able to provide a floor for their college games that's uncluttered by pro markings....even the narrower key would look better, too.

I agree on getting a floor without 2 lines for 3 pointers. MSG hosts the pre-season and post-season NIT every year, as well as numerous other college games throughout the year. Couldn't they just get a floor for college games?

The double lines especially confused my wife last night, as first she thought he shot a 2-point basket to tie (not win) and then she thought he stepped out of bounds. It takes away from the game when you're trying to figure out which line is which and what it is there for.

Yes, arenas often use decals to cover logos or to add any advertising to the floor space. Often in a pro arena, they will use colored tape to mark the 3 pt. line for the college game. It will always be close to being the exact distance, but it will never be perfect.

Regardless, the West Virgini player was behind a line, pro or college, and nailed a beautiful and exciting shot.

I actually thought a couple of times during the NCAAs that a player may have shuffled, during a dribble move, behind the half court line, except the line was obscured by that monstrous blue NCAA logo thing they've got going on all the floors this year.

Replying to Jeff's NHL comment, "Think of the NBA, it's just a throw away series."

In last year's playoffs, the West's 5-8 seeds beat the top 4 seeds. Moreover, in the Sharks existence (since 1991-92 season), they've beaten the #1 seed from the #8 seed twice (Red Wings in their 3rd year in 1993-94) and (Blues in 1999-2000).

Also, in replying to Xenod's "I don't think MMA is going to be that big in America, but it certainly has potential to be what boxing once was."

The UFC has grown a great deal. Its always on SpikeTV. Furthermore, Pride is on Fox Sports Channel. It has the highest ratings for the males 18-34. Last month in Ohio, the UFC eclipsed a record for the largest MMA audience, which was previously held by San Jose's Strikeforce MMA fight (which I was there for). In addition, UFC 66 on December 30, 2006 between Tito "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Ortiz and Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell was the largest pay-per-view in UFC history. I didn't get the PPV because I was there at the sold out event at the MGM Grand.

That has to be the worst rationale for why someone isn't cheating I have ever heard.

The exact same arguement could be applied to anyone whos been caught or suspected of using drugs: Bonds, Maguire, Ben Johnson, countless cyclists.

"They've been around for so long and have steadily improved over the course of their careers."

By your logic, it makes sense how many baseball players ballooned up in size towards the end of their careers since they had been around so long and had all that time working on their game.

I have no idea if he is cheating or not. I'm just saying, I wouldn't be suprised and the fact that he has "been on the scene since he was 15" bares little consequence as to whether or not he is cheating NOW.

wow...logic is no where near your argument. That's like claiming you aren't addicted to cigarettes because you don't want to stop.

You might as well just say that you're giving him the benefit of the doubt (which is what you are doing).

I'm saying I wouldn't be suprised if he is doping.

Both of these are legitimate opinions to have. However, for you to argue that he isn't doping because of his longivity in the sport (since he was 15) is baseless and to a certain degree counter-intuitive.

I'd like to find out how you could convict someone of attempted murder when there was no concrete proof he was even there at the time and it might have been self defense even if he was and then sentence him to 14 years in jail.

Lost in all of this debate is that the guy who has now beaten Federer twice in one year did so after returning from a 15 month ban for doping. Think whatever he did 15 months ago isn't helping him now in some way?

If you take steroids to get big, but continue lifting hard while cycling off, you will still stay big (or, at least mosly big).

nothing to do with longevity. steady improvement which happens during your peak years of your career in these sports. the examples you gave were individuals who had shocking spikes late in their careers. phelps is not doing anything different that the best athletes don't normally do in their sports. he is just the best, bar none. he would have been caught by now if he was doping. International drug testing is the best. are you one of those guys who think Armstrong doped? if the rules are in place and you cheat, you get caught in sports. The only reason we cannot say that about Bonds and all the baseball players is that they were not tested for it when they were taking PEDs. But since the new rules were put into american pro sports, guys have been caught. Palmeiro, Merriman etc...Why even question it, the guy has been smashing records for 4 years now and has never been even considered to be doping. and smokers only say that to get people off their case.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.